To Our Knees
by Jord
Summary: My take on an event in Episode III. Palpatine has succeeded in turning Anakin. He now leads a massive army to efficiently eliminate all the Jedi, leaving no one alive.


**DISCLAIMER:** George Lucas owns the Star Wars universe not me. The characters that you do not recognize are my own.

_The following takes place after Episode II – after Palpatine has taken up his emergency powers and used them to build the clone army. Anakin Skywalker is now a Jedi Knight, and has been appointed to serve as Palpatine's bodyguard after a daring assassination attempt on the Emperor's life. Several Jedi Knights and Masters have been dispatched to investigate the rise of the Sith. Master Mace Windu has had suspicions and concerns of his own, and has left the __Temple__ to question Emperor Palpatine. The Council has not yet realized that Palpatine is indeed a Sith Lord._

_The plot above is not my own. It is taken from a combination of several speculative scripts. The following is actually a short excerpt from my own imagination, meant to narrow down and focus on a few of the events that take place once Anakin has turned to the Dark Side. He is now the leader – only second to the Emperor - in eliminating the Jedi Knights, who he believes to be a threat. These events are told through the point of view of two people, a Jedi Master and his young apprentice.  _

The girl tossed and turned in her restless sleep - breathing heavily as she did so. Her usually dull dreams were taking the shape of something heavy and black, something that stalked her and everyone she cared about. And no one knew. No one knew that it was silently watching them, except for her and her alone. She could feel its ominous presence lurking behind walls, behind curtains, in the very foundations of the Temple itself. Maybe it was right before her now. Just when she knew that she must wake, her sleep suddenly grew thicker, and it became difficult for her to break free from this dream. She knew she must open her eyes – but she felt restrained, tied down hard to something she could not see. Try! With all your might and effort! We...must...break...free!

With a jolt, her eyes shot wide open and darted about rapidly, searching every corner of her room. But there was nothing there except for the familiar. She placed her hand on her heart as if to simultaneously feel its quick beats and to calm them down. It was just a dream – a horrible one – but just a dream. She turned to her side and curled up into a ball. She didn't want to fall asleep again, she was afraid that her dreams would pick up where they left off. But bed was for rest, and it would do her no good to simply lie there expecting not to drift off. She rose and sat on the floor. Whatever she had dreamt – it was now over – but there was no denying the fact that the feelings it gave her still persisted. 

She rubbed her eyes and crossed her legs. She would have to meditate on this.

                                                                ________________________

'No sleep, Borneo?' said the man, as he adjusted the bandage on his right wrist.

'What makes you say that, Master?' said the girl, looking up from her breakfast – mouth still full.

'Oh...I don't know, the black circles under your little eyes perhaps?' he said, half-jokingly.

'I wasn't reading again!' said Borneo immediately, determined to prove that she did have some degree of self control. The past few weeks, she had borrowed many books from the junior library and had stayed up late trying to finish them all before they were due. As a result, she did not get an adequate amount of sleep causing her training and performance to suffer. Her master, on noticing this immediately, had lectured – not reprimanded – her about the importance of dedication and self-control. He was more disappointed than annoyed, and that was what had upset her the most. She had given her word that it would not happen again.

He held out his palm in front of him, as if to pacify the agitated child. 'I know, I know!' he smiled, his eyes twinkling. 'But when I was seven, I never had problems sleeping. Concentrating – maybe, but definitely not sleeping.' He sat down beside Borneo, placed his clasped hands on the table out in front of him and continued. 'Is something wrong?'

Borneo looked down intently at her breakfast. She had thought about lying – but that would do no good. Besides, why would she _need_ to lie? It wasn't as if she was hiding something of vital importance. But the dream and how much it had frightened her made her feel ashamed. Jedi Knights were courageous and dealt with much more terrifying circumstances every day. She should not let a silly little dream have the audacity to control her like it was doing now. It was nonsense. 

'What's nonsense?' asked her Master, reading her thoughts.

She looked at him through narrowed eyes. 'I thought we agreed that we wouldn't read each other's thoughts without approval,'

He crossed his arms and returned her gaze. 'Oh. I see. I must be under the impression that you agreed not to read my thoughts without approval. Obviously, I had failed to notice that this was a reciprocatory situation.'

'What does that mean?' she asked, suddenly forgetting about her accusation.

'It means that if I do something for you, you do something for me in return. Like a favor, for instance. But I don't believe that that's what we initially agreed on...'

Borneo smiled sheepishly. 'Aw, maybe I just thought I could get away with it.' Her mouth suddenly curved downwards into a slight sulk. 'But I don't see why you shouldn't have to refrain from reading my mind, while I still have to!'

'That's because you're still my apprentice, Borneo. And trust me, I promise never to read your mind unless I truly think it necessary. What if you're in trouble, or upset, but you refuse to let anyone help you against better judgment? I don't think that's very wise – and neither will you, in a few years. Despite what you think now.'

'In a few years, in a few years.' repeated Borneo. 'Everything's "in a few years". Why can't anything happen now?'

Her master suppressed a smile. Borneo was impatient – that was her one big flaw that had almost gotten her dismissed from the Jedi Temple. That was the reason for why so few Jedi Masters were reluctant to take her on as their apprentice. That was why she had almost gotten herself killed last year in a speeder accident. She was always so eager to get her tasks completed without forethought that she made many mistakes. But he had seen tremendous potential in her and had believed that her shortcomings could be tamed – given time, and patience. And patience was something he deeply possessed. 

'Because if you could know everything there is about becoming a Jedi Knight, and possessed all the required skills in an instant, you wouldn't appreciate what you had learned. You would have no respect for the power you held and you would wield it recklessly. And you – including many others – will suffer in its wake.' he explained.

'Is that what the Dark Side is about, Master Yura?' she asked quietly.

Yura breathed in deeply before answering. Borneo might be reckless but she was not stupid. She had great insight into certain things even he – at her age – did not know. They had never spoken about the attractive aspects of their enemies and their powers. In fact, the younglings would not know of such things till much later on. For now, a fear and disdain for the Dark Side of the Force was merely instilled at them to prevent them from turning in the future. At times, Yura wondered if that was the wisest course of action...

'Yes. But let's not speak of it at this moment. I will talk with you about it in more detail later tonight. I believe that, since you've asked me, I have no right to lie to you. There are certain things you must know. But I will tell you this now. Most things, that seem powerful and alluring and that can be obtained in an instant often require a heavy price to be paid.'

'But how can we tell the difference between what's the good way and the bad way?'

'The same way you can tell that the dream you had wasn't good. With your heart.' he answered.

Borneo smiled. He had known – all along – what had been troubling her. 'Then you know what it's about – the dream?' she asked.

'No. You refuse to think about it, you keep pushing it further away. But the harder you try, the harder it pushes back, determined to be known.'

'Should I let it have its way?'

'What do you think?'

'I think maybe...I'll just tell you. But you have to promise you won't tell anyone.'

'I can't do that. What if the dream is significant in some way? What if it could prevent something from being destroyed?'

'Then you would have to tell the Council...'

Master Yura nodded. 

Borneo bit her lip, and began. 'I'm standing in a room – I think it might be the training room – but it looks like all the rooms I've been in merged into one. And then I feel something creeping over me, and I look around at my friends. They don't feel it yet. And then-' she was cut short by a boy – about her age suddenly call out to her from the hall's entrance.

'Borneo! Borneo! Grab your lightsaber and let's go! Ten minutes to get down to the dueling room!'

She turned anxiously from the boy to her master. 'I need to tell you!'

Her master placed a hand on her shoulder. 'Later. This can wait, you have your training to get to.'

'But I think you need to know now,' she insisted.

Master Yura looked back at her. 'It can wait – be patient, Borneo. Patience will do you a world of good. Now be off with you!' he said as he gave her a reassuring smile. But he hid his feelings as he felt something troubling stir within him.

                                                    ________________________________

He walked with reverence into the circular room with its wide, continuous windows and patterned marble floors. Many members of the Council had been dispatched on several important errands. Only four remained. The room felt surprisingly empty, yet cramped and cold. Usually, the light – from the sun and its glinting reflection from the air traffic outside – flooded and bathed the room, but today, dark clouds covered its face. 

'Something to say, you have?' croaked the small voice, breaking his thoughts.

'Yes, Master Yoda. It's about my apprentice.' answered Yura.

'Borneo Amalan? What has she done now?' spoke another voice from the corner of the room. 

'Nothing, Master. She has had...a dream. I believe it to be a premonition of some sort. Of darker things to come.'

'But you have not heard the full tale of this...dream. How can you come to reasonable judgment from this?' asked Master Plo Koon.

Yura looked down. Of course they would know that he had only heard a mere fragment of Borneo's nightmare. 'I can't. But I had a dark foreboding when I was listening to her.' He looked back up and noticed an empty chair. 'Where is Master Windu?'

'Away on an errand of his own, he is. Answers to questions, he needs.' replied Yoda.

'To what questions?' said Yura, quickly.

'He did not inform us. All that he said was that he would let us know as soon as he had more information. How is this connected to the dream?' asked another Council member.

'I don't know – I can't explain. But I know there is some connection. I feel it now...' he turned to face Master Yoda as a slow realization began to envelope him.

Yoda nodded slightly. 'Feel it too, I do. A curtain, being unveiled.' Yoda closed his eyes and started murmuring in an unknown tongue.

'Something is happening – many of us are being silenced...' began another Council member, Ki-Adi-Mundi, as he too, closed his eyes. 

Suddenly Yura felt cold and panicked, he looked from each Jedi Master to the other. They all had their eyes closed. He didn't know what to do. Something was occurring – so rapidly – it seemed. Or maybe it had simply been taking shape all these years, and only now had the clouds parted to reveal what was truly happening. 

'Taken, him it has.' spoke Yoda, suddenly, jolting Yura out of his fearful thoughts.

'Taken who?' asked Yura.

'And all this time, we did not know...we did not see...' spoke Master Plo Koon. 

'But now we know,' murmured Yarael Poof.

'Too late, we are.' said Yoda. 'Clouded our minds for too long, he has.'

'Who?!' asked Yura, desperate for answers.

'When Emperor Palpatine refused to relinquish and lay down his emergency powers, we should have known. And when he accused the Jedi of treachery at the senate meeting, we should have known.' spoke Yarael Poor, almost to himself. 'The Sith have returned, Master Yura. And they now have a new and powerful ally.' he explained.

Yura did not respond. He could not. But the question took form in his mind, which they could all read.

Ki-Adi-Mundi was the first to answer. 'Anakin Skywalker has turned.' 

                                                         ______________________________

He raced down the long corridor, screeching around corners as he ran. Why they knew now – how they knew that time was running out fast – they could not answer. The only conclusion the Council could reach was that it was not of their own accord that this terrible news had become known to them. Something, someone...the Emperor, was behind it. The trap had been sprung, and knowing that there would be no escape, Emperor Palpatine must have let his deeply laid plans for the galaxy, be known. He had nothing to lose and everything to gain from it. 

Mace Windu was dead. Of that, the Council was certain. Yura did not know how – and at the moment he did not care to. All he needed to know was that the Jedi Knights who were away on missions were silently being eliminated one by one. By what forces, he did not know. Master Yoda believed that it must be the clone army, whom Emperor Palpatine ordered and controlled. When this decree had been passed, no one knew. But it must have been done silently and would be exposed in the guise that the galaxy was in a state of emergency, and the Emperor would explain that he had no other choice. The Jedi Knights were to be killed. Wherever they were.

And now they were coming here. To the Temple.

                                                        _________________________________

'Master Javon!' cried Yura as he ran into a fellow Knight. 'We have to-'

'I know,' panted Javon. 'I have been warned. I'm going to get the younglings and prepare the ship!'

'No!' protested Yura. 'There's no time to do both! And it would do us no good to escape using a trademark Jedi vehicle – they would have implemented a blockade to shoot without hesitation if we try to leave Coruscant.'

'Then...?' asked Javon, eyes widened.

'Get the stealth pods ready. They're smaller and we have a chance of escaping detection that way. I'll see to the younglings on this floor. We'll meet you at the emergency bay – we'll come through one of the escape passages.'

'You're sure there's no alternative – nothing we can do? Stand our ground and fight?' asked Javon.

Yura shook his head. 'We don't yet know what we're up against. And we should try to get the younger Jedi out before we do anything rash. We don't want a massacre.' 

Javon nodded as he placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. 'Who would have thought it would come to this?' He turned and looked back at Yura as he ran to get the small shuttles ready. 'Be careful – the Force be with you!'

Yura looked on as his friend ran. He closed his eyes and spoke softly to himself. 'May the Force be with you too.' 

He too, then ran, down the seemingly endless corridor towards the training rooms.

                                                          ____________________________

Borneo grasped her lightsaber seeking comfort – but she did not get it. There was that awful feeling again – that made her stomach twist into several knots. She looked at her friends – they were obviously oblivious to what she was feeling. Apparently, they felt nothing.

'Defensive stance, Borneo! Not staring stance!' said her dueling partner glaring at her.

'I have to use the bathroom.' said Borneo.

The boy rolled his eyes. 'Not again!'

Borneo raised her hand and looked towards her instructor who was standing with her eyes closed at the far corner of the room. 

'Master Rhuhe? I need to use the bathroom.' She got not response. 'Master Rhuhe?'

Master Rhuhe suddenly opened her eyes, and Borneo felt a sudden stab of fear as she looked into them. 

'Children,' spoke Rhuhe, quietly. 'Gather close, stay close in a group.'

All previous noise had become hushed down into a thick cloud of silence. The children could feel their master's fear, and through it they knew what was happening. 

'Now don't be afraid. The most important thing is to stay calm and not panic. Panic can cause a host of unhappy things to happen.' explained Rhuhe, as soothingly as she could. 'Stay here, little ones – don't go anywhere. I'm going to find out what's happening.'

With that, she turned and walked out.

'Someone's coming to kill us. Why would they want to kill us? We protect the galaxy...' said a raspy voice, as the words tumbled out.

'I want to leave this room.' said somebody else.

'Master Rhuhe told us to stay put.'

'I think he's right – I think we should go.' spoke up Borneo.

'But she said-'

'I don't think Master Rhuhe's coming back.' said Borneo, as she felt her hands grow cold.

A boy spun around in fury and fear to face her. 'Don't you say that! Don't you say that! She would never leave us!'

'I didn't say she would leave of her own free will, Flye. I'm saying she's not going to come back because they won't let her.' with that, Borneo ignited her lightsaber.

The others looked at the glowing blue light. They weren't trained to fight with it ignited. Dodging harmless blasts from a globe blaster, yes, but not full on combat. They said nothing as they looked from the lightsaber to Borneo's face.

'I'm not going to fight anyone. I'm just going to defend myself if anything happens. I think you should do the same.' she explained. 'And I'm not standing around here to be clobbered. I'm getting out of the Temple.'

'What if they're waiting outside for us?' asked Flye.

Borneo paused. She hadn't thought of that. Her dream was coming true then. There was no way out, and they would all die huddled together in fear in a pitiful group. No. She wouldn't let it happen. If there was a chance to live, she decided to take it and embrace it with all her strength. 'We'll take the escape passages.' she said.

'Do you think it's alright to use them?' protested someone.

'I think we'll be severely scolded if we don't.' retorted Borneo. 'Let's go! We're wasting time here arguing!' 

'But we have to think this through!'

'Noo...' urged Borneo as her sense of urgency grew to much higher levels. 'We have to go _now_.'

'I don't-' began somebody as she was suddenly interrupted by an almost mechanical voice coming from the room's entrance.

'Don't move!'

They all turned to see three armed clone troopers with their laser blasters pointed directly at them. Borneo froze in fear. Were they going to shoot? When were they going to shoot them? Why were they waiting? There was no way out of this room – the soldiers had blocked their only exit route. The escape tunnels lay in another room – about two minutes away from this one. Borneo wondered how the three troopers had entered the Temple...

Before she could finish the thought, she saw Flye leap past the other younglings, his lightsaber ignited. She watched on in dreaded fascination, as he deflected a few laser blasts – and before she knew what she was doing, she was fighting alongside him. Soon, her other friends were beside her, united in one cause. Survival.

She felt the Force flow and almost guide her movements – she was surprised to note that she felt no fear – as a strange calm overcame her. Even when she saw a red laser blast whiz by her into the body of a friend, she continued fighting. She thrust her saber to the right, deflecting a shot off of it which ricocheted into a glass window inside the room, causing it to crack, but not shatter.  The next shot zipped so close to her head that she heard a faint popping sound. Part of her wanted to stop and to check and see who was injured, but she knew she had to keep fighting. She did not want to let her enemies win so easily. 

Borneo blocked out the cries of her dying friends, two minutes later only a few of them remained. Five minutes later, only she and Flye stood, fighting back to back – fighting a game in which they knew they would lose. She was surprised to note that there were now only two troopers standing – one of the children must have killed the other. But that didn't seem to make a difference now. The two remaining children were inexperienced and it would only be a matter of time before they grew exhausted and caved in. 

Borneo watched – as if in slow motion as the second trooper raised his blaster to his eye level, and aimed directly at her. She knew she didn't have enough time to spin her lightsaber around to defend herself and she knew Flye was too busy to help. Suddenly all her bravery left her as quickly as it had entered. She felt very afraid. She no longer felt like a Jedi – defender of all that was good. She felt like a little girl who was staring into the face of death, and it frightened her more than anything ever had before.

Suddenly she and Flye got thrown to the floor by a powerful force. Borneo watched as the two clone sailed through the air as well, and skidded across the marble floor. She heard a voice – one she thought she recognized – but not very well. 

'Stay down, younglings!' it shouted. She watched, palms soaked in sweat, still lying on the floor as Master Plo Koon neatly dispatched the two troopers in less than a minute. Borneo looked around her, finally, trying to take in what she saw. Scattered about the floor were the bodies of her friends. The people she had played with, argued with, sang songs with. They were all dead. They were all gone. _Don't look, don't look..._a voice kept telling her. But she did. She saw everything. Their faces, their clothes...

The Jedi Master ran towards the two surviving children, and began to help them up. As they walked hurriedly out of the room he spoke. 'You fought bravely, young ones. But now we can fight no more. We have to escape-'

'Escape is not an option, Plo Koon.' spoke a voice. It seemed to boom inside all of their heads and grow louder as it approached. Flye felt as if he would soon faint.

The three of them turned to see a figure, walking towards them – lightsaber extended. For a split second, Borneo recognized the green light emanating from it to be friendly, but she knew that this was not so. She could feel the same sense of dread all over again.

'Anakin Skywalker.' spoke Plo Koon as he approached the former Jedi Knight, prepared to fight. 

_Anakin!_ shouted a voice inside Borneo's head. Not the same Anakin who had sat her on his knee and tickled her despite her protests about a year ago? Not the same Anakin who had told her his exciting stories of podracing – the dangerous sport practiced on his home planet – Tatooine?

'Anakin!' screamed out Borneo suddenly, so overcome with her realization that she had forgotten what he had become.

The man before them looked down towards the source of this voice. He gazed at Borneo, and for an instant something warm – a flicker of recognition from some other time perhaps – crossed his face, and it grew lighter. He paused in the midst of raising his laser sword. 

Plo Koon took immediate advantage of this hesitation and threw his hand forward, causing Anakin to stumble backwards onto floor. Plo Koon pinned the man down with all his might, and turned his head slightly towards the two children.

'Go! Run!' he cried out.

Borneo paused in confusion as she saw Anakin struggling to fight back. She did not have enough time to sort through her feelings because the next instant, Master Yura appeared to their right. He stood there for a moment, making sense of what was going on. He could see the other Jedi Knight tighten his mouth as he fought hard to pin down Skywalker. 

'Take the children and run, Yura.' spoke Koon, through gritted teeth.

Yura began to protest. 'I can help!'

Immediately, Plo Koon felt a painful shock fly through his body, and he stumbled backwards but did not fall. He raised his lightsaber towards his opponent, as Anakin rose up with fury from the floor. Now he would see how well Skywalker had been trained in the arts. He would see how big of a mistake the Council had made. But he had to convince Yura to take the two children to safety. He doubted that many Jedi would survive this onslaught. And he was in the heart of it all.

'You can help by surviving!' cried out the Jedi Master before he ran towards Skywalker, lightsaber clashing against lightsaber.

'Your resistance will only prolong your suffering. And theirs.' Borneo heard Anakin say determinedly.

'Come on kids!' said Yura on hearing this. He gathered the children in front of him. 'We're leaving.'

'Where are we going?' asked Borneo. She glanced sideways at Flye, who had begun to cry.

'We're leaving Coruscant.'

'To where?' panted Borneo as they ran. 

'To where the Force leads us.' answered Yura.

Borneo looked back – she could not refrain from doing so – and the last thing she remembered, ingrained into her memory so deeply, was the image of the two great Jedi Knights – one no longer so – dueling each other until there would only be one winner. And she closed her eyes as she ran – trying to listen to her feelings – hoping that maybe that they would both realize what they were doing. That Plo Koon wouldn't die. That Anakin Skywalker wouldn't die. But at that moment, while both were still fighting, she knew that one of them already had.

                                           ______________________________

She looked out into space, but that which once fascinated her now felt void and empty. She watched in silence as Coruscant grew smaller as the distance between the shuttle and the planet grew. Soon it was simply another dot in the vastness of space. 

'Don't regret. There mustn't be any regrets, Padawan. To remember the past is to dwell in it.' spoke a voice from behind her.

'How can I forget? It's not easy to forget...' said Borneo as she felt her eyes sting with the emergence of tears.

'I didn't say forget. What I mean is, we could not have foreseen this. We did the best we could. What we have to do now,' he paused as he bent on his knees and wiped a tear off her cheek. 'What we have to do now is make do with what has been given to us. We've escaped with our lives. What we do with it is of vital importance.' 

'I don't see how we're lucky to live and everyone else is unlucky to die. Why did we have to live?'

'I don't know.' answered Master Yura. 'We just did. That's all I know.' He leaned back against the cold wall of the shuttle and closed his eyes.

'We'll have to go into hiding. Where they can't find us.' said Borneo. Then suddenly her eyes widened in hope. 'Do you think anyone else survived like us?'

Yura opened his eyes slowly. 'If they did, they didn't take any of the escape shuttles. There were no empty spaces in the station. And if they took the larger transport vehicles...'

'...the gunnery blockade would have shot them down as they tried to escape.' finished Borneo as her voice fell.

A minute of silence followed before Borneo spoke up again. 'Master Yura, who prepped the shuttles for us? I know it wasn't you because you were with us.'

Yura breathed in deeply. He did not want to answer, and Borneo did not press him for one. He knew that his friend, Javon, was most likely dead. Had he stayed in the escape station, he would have most likely had survived, for most outsiders did not know of that area of the Temple. But being a Knight, his feelings and duty would have been to go back – his primary task completed – to go help others in need. And there would have been many.

'Borneo, when we reach Abra, you will tell the locals – if they ask – that you and Flye are my two children. I'll explain that I'm a poor man, trying to eke out a living as a farmer. Try not to talk and ask too many questions – you seem to be very good at both.' he said, as he rose and walked past her ruffling her hair as he did so.

'Will things be set right?'

Yura turned around. 'It doesn't look that way.'

'I won't be able to finish my training?'

He walked back to her as he held up her arm for examination – which she had wounded – and ignored the question she had posed. 'Let's get that arm tended to. We don't want overly curious neighbors wondering how on earth a child so young got a blaster shot.'

'I don't want neighbors...I...want everything to return to normal. To be as it once was.' sobbed Borneo as she threw herself into Yura's arms.

He held her tightly, and kissed her head lightly. 'It will be, Borneo. It will be. Just not right now. Maybe...I believe that someone will come along to put things right, to put the wheels back in motion.' He turned and looked out the small window into space and spoke to himself. 'Maybe it has already begun.'

                                                                             FINIS


End file.
